Flying finish for Fox: cross country season round-up

The cross-country season has finally come to a close for most, with the conclusion of the domestic season at the UK Inter-counties XC this weekend in Loughborough, following the English and Scottish National championships on the 17th February. Several Hare and Hounds members were in action across the two events, although many competing for their home clubs due to competition rules.

The UK Inter-counties field comprises of the top 8 athletes from each county in the UK and doubles as World Trials in the U20 and Senior age groups. Ollie Fox asserted his outstanding athletic form with an incredible performance over the 10.7km Senior Men’s course, running strongly to stick with the leading group all the way round as 40mph winds and the rolling course destroyed the rest of the field behind him. Engaged in tight battle all the way round, Ollie showed pure determination to outkick BUCS Silver medallist Patrick Dever for Bronze in 32:53. As an U23 athlete, this result is quite possibly the performance of the year for a Cambridge athlete, and puts him in a very strong chance of being selected for the GB Senior team for the World XC Championships coming up soon in Denmark. The race was won by Adam Hickey in 32:44.

Elsewhere in the field, two of our most experienced Blues athletes, Will Ryle-Hodges and Phil Crout, put in strong performances to finish 36th and 40th respectively and were part of the Gold medal winning Middlesex team. In the Women’s race, which was held over the same course as the mens for the first time in 2019, Fiona Bunn ran well to finish 29th in her first senior race, followed by Lizzy Apsley in 86th and Becca Frake in 105th.

A few weeks previously, the National champs weekend also saw some impressive performances from the Hare and hounds, the highlight being Jeremy Dempsey’s Bronze medal in the U20 English national, with Joe Massingham and Aidan Rigby finishing 18th and 47th in the same race. Nancy Scott continued her fine form with her first top 10 result in the U20W coming 9th. She was followed by strong Cambridge representation with Fiona Bunn in 15th, Phoebe Barker 25th, Joni Wildman 45th and Lucy Thompson 62nd.

A summary of the results can be found below:

Intercounties XC

Senior Men

3rd Oliver Fox

36th Will Ryle-Hodges

40th Phillip Crout

Senior Women

29th Fiona Bunn

86th Lizzy Apsley

105th Becca Frake

English National XC:

Junior Men

3rd Jeremy Dempsey

18th Joe Massingham

47th Aidan Rigby

Junior Women

9th Nancy Scott

15th Fiona Bunn

25th Phoebe Barker

45th Joni Wildman

62nd Lucy Thompson

Senior Men

45th Will Ryle-Hodges

48th Phillip Crout

49th Norman Shreeve

63rd George Gathercole

192nd Jose Gray

201st Jamie Edgerton

509th Tom Kearns

Senior Women

48th Lizzy Apsley

108th Becca Frake

Scottish National XC:

Senior Men

32nd Iain Davies

50th Pete Cameron

Regional XC championships

Northerns

4th Joe Massingham (Junior Men)

35th Lizzy Apsley (Senior Women)

Southerns

7th Fiona Bunn (Junior Women)

21st Lauren Major (Senior Women)

57th Becca Frake (Senior Women)